As part of a promotional partnership with Warner Bros. for 2013’s Man of Steel, Gillette posed the question: How does Superman shave? That clever campaign has since become hilariously ironic thanks to 2017’s Justice League, for which Superman star Henry Cavill had to have his real-life mustache digitally removed from the film in postproduction. The reason he had a mustache in the first place was because, when he was needed for reshoots, he was busy making Mission: Impossible — Fallout, and that film’s studio (Paramount) forbade him to get rid of his facial hair. As a result, Cavill’s upper lip looked incredibly weird throughout his latest performance as the Kryptonian hero — and that, in turn, gave birth to a million memes.

But as he informed us earlier this week, he’s thrilled that it did.

“I sure wasn’t expecting that to happen,” Cavill told our own Kevin Polowy at CinemaCon about the public’s fascination with his mustache. Nonetheless, he’s anything but disappointed by the internet’s response. “I love that it has. It’s cool. I can show my grandkids one day.”

What he’s specifically referring to, of course, are the copious jokes that have sprung up regarding the Justice League Superman mustache fiasco. That brouhaha was a gift for social media jokesters late last year, spawning a wealth of amusing posts:

JUSTICE LEAGUE EXEC: We can just CGI Henry Cavill’s mustache out it will be fine and not look weird at allHENRY CAVILL: pic.twitter.com/Ag41j6LbPn

While promoting Man of Steel back in 2013, Cavill told Amy Adams that he thought the origins of Superman’s shaving techniques should, like the precise location of the Fortress of Solitude, remain a mystery.

Now we know, however, that Superman removes his hair via rushed and imprecise computer-generated imaging. Fortunately for Cavill, he’ll be looking far less awkward when — with the legendary mustache in effect — he co-stars opposite Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible — Fallout, which debuts in theaters July 27.